The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom, Vol. 1

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By Fuyutsuki Koki and Masami. Released in Japan as “Kanpeki Sugite Kawaige ga Nai to Konyaku Haki Sareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tiffany Lim. Adapted by Shaenon K. Garrity.

This one really took me by surprise. The first, oh, forty pages or so read like Saint by Numbers, frankly. We’ve read this story before. Our heroine, who is fantastic at magic and smart and pretty but perhaps overly serious, is shunned by her fiance the prince, and exiled from the kingdom – in this case, literally sold to another kingdom for cash. When she arrives at her new homeland, she’s rather stunned to find that everyone there is treating her nicely, happy to see her, and urging her to take breaks and enjoy herself. Something that, well, she’s not particularly good at, as she grew up as the abused eldest daughter you almost always see in these sorts of books. We also hear about the youngest daughter, also a Saint, who supposedly loves her sister, but is now going to end up with the prince instead. Uh uh, I thought. Cue evil sister. Oh, how delightfully wrong I was.

For the summary of the start of the book, see above. Philia is somewhat horrified by this, but having been raised since birth to have almost no sense of self-worth, she quietly goes along with it. That said, Philia is only one of the two protagonists in this book. Back in her old country, Mia, the younger sister, is equally horrified to hear that (according to everyone else, that is) Philia chose to run off to another country, leaving Mia as the sole Saint. What’s more, after a brief period of being devastated by his fiancee leaving him that lasts about three days, the prince is now proposing to Mia instead. She suspects something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and decides to play detective to figure out what’s really going on. (Hint: treason.)

So yes, the big reveal is that Mia is not only the co-protagonist but just as likeable as her sister. Mia was raised in a family of love, separated from her older sister (we find out why later), and is relatively well-adjusted, so is definitely the one to be trying to investigate the potential multiple assassinations happening around her. Philia, meanwhile, is “dull, unfriendly, and far too serious”, according to the prince, and he’s not really far off. She was raised in a household without love, her education ranged from strict to ludicrous, and basic human decency baffles her, to the point where she’s poleaxed when people tell her not to immediately go out and save the country but take a day to rest. And honestly, for the best she didn’t, as it turns out Philia is better suited to save the entire WORLD.

This isn’t perfect – as always with this genre, the evil nobles are cartoonishly evil, and Philia’s two potential romantic interests seem to be there only because this genre always has two princes both in love with the Saint. But its main conceit is terrific (it’s getting an anime in April), and even though it seemingly wrapped everything up in the first book, I’ll read Book 2, which doubtless will focus more on those romantic loose ends.

The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place, Vol. 2

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By Toryuu and hamm. Released in Japan as “Kimo Ota Mob Yōhei wa, Mi no Hodo o Wakimaeru” by Overlap Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Josh DM.

As I started to get near the end of this second novel, I began to wonder if the author is actually interested in any of the fanservice or romance in it at all. I know this might be a surprise given that the cover of this volume looks like the title of the series is “That Ass Knows Its Place”, but there’s a lot less thirst for our dorky hero this time around, with the obvious exception of Fialka, the designated tsundere and lead girl. But most of the sexy in this book is entirely down to the artwork rather than the plot and characters, John still has zero interest in anyone, and the author states in an afterword that they got into an argument with the editor about how robotic Shelly the maid should look. (The author lost, and passes it off as editorial making the right decision, but still…) In the end, if you want a harem look elsewhere. This is about space battles. 9-to-5 workaday space battles.

John (and it feels weird to use that name, given that it only appears three times in the entire book and everyone else has space names) is doing his usual thing, taking jobs once he knows that they’re not inherently dangerous, keeping his head down, avoiding nobility (with little to no success there), and being very, very good at what he does. He’s helped by a new guild receptionist who will not treat him like a creep or scum, and she’s a gorgeous young… woman? No, wait, really pretty young man. Never mind. He’s good at his job, though, which not only John but also the recently disgraced “hero” appreciate. And he’s got plenty of work, as there are more and more pirates, and more and more mercs are being hired to help take care of them.

Once again, the series’ main draw is how good it is at validating its hero’s mindset towards his life and job. Even the other characters are admitting he has a point about staying a knight and not getting involved. Partly as there are more jobs you CAN’T turn down when you get promoted, but mostly as almost every noble in this entire series seems to be some variation of “sack of shit”, and they all seem to run into John and hate him personally. It’s not clear if they recognize him from his famous past, or if they’re just like “portly guy who’s not gorgeous like everyone else in this universe, must be someone I can bully”, but it does make me wonder if the author has a bit of an agenda. Not that I mind all that much. The space battles here are pretty good, the girls who seem to revolve around him are, with one exception, nice enough, and the exception is comedy relief.

So, like the first book, this isn’t great, but it’s good, and the setting interests me. I’ll keep on trucking.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~ Short Story Collection, Vol. 2

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By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan as “Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu: Tanpenshuu” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sarah Moon.

The first volume of the Re: Zero short stories was supplemented by some stories written directly for the volume. Unfortunately, that appears to be a one-off, as the volumes from this one going forward consist entirely of stories from Monthly Comic Alive. This volume came out near the end of the third arc, between Books 8 and 9, but is still entirely concerned with that period after the second arc, with every story happening around Roswaal’s mansion. The stories themselves appeared between July 2014 and July 2015, which is to say around the start of the third arc. Why am I writing so much about trivia like this? Because this is still a short story book in the end, and there’s a limited amount of things they can do to affect canon and be important characterization, especially given they’re all “buy in a manga magazine” stories. That said… this is a lot of fun, and should be greatly enjoyable for Re: Zero fans.

There are six stories here. 1) After the events of Liliana’s visit, the mansion’s residents are horrified to discover that Emilia is tone-deaf, and try to teach her how to sing; 2) Subaru accidentally uses Ram’s special medicinal tea that she needs to help her mana, and now he, Ram, and Puck have to go into the forest to get the dangerous ingredients required to make it again; 3) Subaru asks if there are ghosts in this world, and discovers that some of the residents of the mansion may fear them (they’re “hollows” here. He decides to use the Japanese “divination” game of kokkuri to have some fun; 4) Trying to get sedentary Beatrice to be more active, Subaru bets her that he can catch her in a game of tag played around the mansion. Beatrice accepts, but forgets how cunning Subaru cam be; 5) The mansion is freezing over due to Puck needing to get rid of his magic, and Subaru decides to help him along by holding a snow festival in the village; 6) Subaru finds a stash of alcohol under a trapdoor, and Roswaal gives permission to host a party with it, since in this world Subaru is old enough to drink.

The last two stories were adapted into an OAV of the anime, and it’s easy to see why, as they lend themselves very well to that sort of thing. Last time I talked about how odd it was to read about the “original” Rem from Arc 3 after all the time we’ve spent (in North America) with her in a coma. This one reminded me that I’ve gotten spoiled by the Emilia of the 5th and 6th arcs, who’s gotten herself together and is kicking ass. This is a return to the old, naive and somewhat goofy Emilia, which isn’t as cool but I will admit can be funnier; Emilia with Mr. Bucket may be the comedic highlight of the book. Most of these are downtime stories, with little danger. The second story has Subaru step off a cliff and get menaced by monsters, but honestly he was more in danger from Ram’s sarcasm there than anything else. Likewise, the danger of potentially dying of the cold in the 5th story is hilariously undercut by Subaru pointing that that Puck has to “fart out all that mana”. This stays on the funny rather than heartwarming side of the scale, though the final scene with Subaru and Beatrice is sweet.

For obsessives only, but it’s great the obsessives finally have a chance to buy it.